Presenting EDF’s 2021 results in Reunion last month, Olivier Meyrueis, its general manager, announced the formation of a regional association AVERE for the development of electric mobility, bringing together all the local actors concerned by the subject. A first general public information campaign on electric mobility could take place this year.
Reunion Island takes a further step in the world of electric mobility with the creation of this regional association which will bring together all the energy players, electric mobility and land use planning : DEAL, ADEME, local communities, public establishments of intermunicipal cooperation, Sidelec, Réunion mixed transport union, Agorah, Temergy, etc., and of course EDF in Reunion, manager of the Reunion electricity network. EDF expects a 30% fleet of electric vehicles by 2033. AVERE will have to anticipate needs and make decisions that will allow Reunion Island to take the turn towards electric mobility without a hitch.. The ability of this body to agree on the issues and the means to address them promises to be decisive.. Especially since Reunion Island will produce all of its electricity from a mix of renewable energies in 2024, it will be the first French region to do so. At the heart of the issues, energy efficiency and, concretely, smoothing vehicle charging during the day to avoid the risk of excessively high peaks in electricity consumption in the evening through the multiplication of home charges. This control of the electricity supply of vehicles (load management) will largely depend on user behavior. It will still be necessary to have charging stations during the day to make the most of solar energy, which will be the stated objective and probably the central theme of future awareness campaigns.
Change in continuity
By presenting the results of EDF in Reunion at the Sainte-Rose hydraulic power station, Olivier Meyrueis highlighted the first local renewable energy source : hydraulics. The share of renewable energies in Reunion’s electricity production remains stable from one year to the next at around 30%.. The replacement of coal with wood biomass in the two Albioma thermal power plants, then fuel oil with biofuel in the EDF du Port thermal power plant, will move the energy mix to all renewables without disrupting the production system. Also the share of renewable energies subject to climatic hazards, hydraulics, solar and wind, will remain the same, 30 %, because this is the threshold that EDF has set to guarantee the continuity of its service by integrating the variability of production of these three energy sources (more or less rain, of sun, of wind).
EDF in Reunion in 2021
Nowadays, EDF in Reunion has 410,000 customers and employs 610 people. Annual electricity consumption increased slightly by 3% between 2020 and 2021. The energy delivered to the electricity network was 2,821 GWh. Energy efficiency operations for individuals, professionals and communities, made it possible to avoid 55 GWh (37,000 tonnes of CO2), the equivalent of the electricity consumption of 15,000 homes. 2021 was marked by significant investments from EDF, to the tune of 73 million euros. Structuring projects have been carried out, like the new source station of Mont Vert, the modernization of the Rivière de l’Est hydraulic plant and that of the electricity network in Cilaos. The government energy check, the local intervention service for energy management (Slime) and the Housing Solidarity Fund are the three main means of action to reduce energy poverty (inability to pay the electricity bill) which affects 40,000 customers. Also note that one in two households is now equipped with a digital meter and can thus accurately monitor its consumption and take action to save energy..
